Public vote coming for future of new community center in North Tonawanda

North Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - Residents in the City of North Tonawanda are set to have their say in the future of a new community center that will combine three city facilities into one, providing a central location for recreation, wellness, education, and community programming.

Right now, city officials are looking to find a solution to combine the senior center (corner of Oliver and Goundry streets), the city's Youth Center (383 Vandervoort) and the Parks and Rec offices at the Norman Keller Building (500 Wheatfield Street), that also houses the Niagara County DMV building. The proposed community center project would see the Norman Keller Building renovated, then see multiple additions - including a 3,000 square-foot multi-purpose space with a kitchen, a new main atrium with ADA bathrooms, a 1,000 square-foot fitness area, and a 7,700 square-foot gymnasium.

In addition, a number of outdoor site upgrades will also be planned for the proposed community center.

What the city is looking to do is put out a vote to the community on the proposed project, similar to the North Tonawanda City School District when they put out a vote on capital projects with its budget.

"Our Parks and Rec director, Alex Domaradzki, came to the Common Council, myself and said, 'I think we should put this out for a vote.' There's definitely a community need for a community center," said North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylec. "Our rents are doubling at various locations, we're paying multiple utility bills. More staffing is needed with three different locations, and consolidation into one facility makes sense for our city. So we thought that was a good idea to put the decision in the public's hands."

City Alderman Joe Lavey also feels a new community center would be a great add for North Tonawanda, and a project that's been a long time coming.

"Running multiple spaces and having to move over the years has been quite the inconvenience. It's tough when you outgrow a building, and it puts a hinder on the programs that we want to be able to provide to our youth and our seniors. And trying to put it in a city-owned building is ideal," said Lavey in an interview with WBEN.

Tylec acknowledges the proposed project is a bit of a high price, presented at an estimated $18 million. However, he's confident in the city - having been extremely successful over the last few years - being able to acquire more large grant funds in order to help get this project up-and-running.

"On the docket right now, we're going after a New York BRICKS [Building Recreational Infrastructure for Communities, Kids and Seniors] funding source, which could be up to about $10 million. We're looking at ESD money - Empire State Development money - DASNY [Dormitory Authority of the State of New York], another New York State funding arm. And actually the Common Council this year did put in a request to our Niagara County Legislature for $5 million to help chip in," Tylec noted.

He does hope the project could be under the $10 million mark by the time grant funding is issued.

"We do see a need here, we understand it's a large number. But we are very hopeful that number is going to be well under $10 million," Tylec said with WBEN.

The downside to grants, according to Lavey, is they could take two or three years for the funding to come in.

"What most people don't consider is we're paying interest on all the millions-and-millions of dollars that we have bonded. So yes, we are going to get that money back, but sadly, we are paying interest on all this money," Lavey noted.

Another dilemma Lavey sees with this proposal is the residents are voting on a tax to be able to pay for this community center, and residents have already seen a number of proposals thrown at them, including a reassessment and a potential tax increase.

"It's kind of hitting all at the same time," Lavey said. "I've gotten a lot of mixed reviews from residents - people who strongly support it and people who are strongly against it. I think that's why the mayor preferred to put it on for a city vote, to allow the taxpayers to decide whether or not they want to fund this project or if they want to hold off on the project."

Those in favor of the new community center include city seniors, who both Lavey and Tylec have heard it's definitely time for an upgrade.

"They're at 100 Oliver Street, and they they don't necessarily feel entirely safe there," Tylec said. "It's right under residential units, it's a tall building right across from the roller rink. And our fire and police, they get calls two or three times a day. So our seniors are definitely looking forward to a new community center - hopefully, if it does pass - and same with our our youth and rec department."

"We need something that could accommodate our seniors, have a place for them to get together, a building that is safe," Lavey echoed. "They've had multiple incidents at the current location over there on Oliver Street, where we've had to have the police there quite a few times. They want a safer building, a building that's not leaking water. We're going to end up paying more money in rent for a building that doesn't really fit what we needed to fit anymore."

People with young kids also want a new community center to provide an opportunity for their kids to be able to go and have good rec programs throughout the year.

However, as Lavey notes, there are people in the city who remain strongly against the proposed project for several reasons.

"The people who are against it are, obviously, people who are on a fixed income, some people don't want to pay for something that they're not going to use. It's also the same people who say, 'I don't have kids in school, I don't know why I pay a school tax. So I definitely don't want to have to pay for a new youth center.' And some people just can't afford to be taxed anymore, which I completely agree with," Lavey said. "There's been a lot of changes throughout the state over the last few years, energy costs are through the roof. And you look at the numbers of what we might be going into for heating costs of our homes, I completely understand people's fear of not wanting to have it."

Tylec feels a new community center would be a better solution for the city rather than trying to renovate and improve all the current facilities the city rents out.

"We have major improvements needed at our senior center - whether it's with the mechanical, electrical, roof, and so on - which could easily cost around $1 million in needed improvements there. There's improvements needed at 500 Wheatfield Street, that's where the DMV is and our parks offices, and our development agency offices. That needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements as well. And our our rec facility - another rented space there - we understand the landlord would like to utilize the space that we occupy. So eventually, we would have to find a new location," Tylec said.

While Lavey agrees with Tylec, he feels that a project of this magnitude needs to be done in phases.

"The existing building [Norman Keller Building] is already there, which the plan is to make that the new senior center. I think if we renovated that and got our seniors in that building first; have that taken care of and then down the line, keep looking for more grant funding and stuff to do the addition for the youth center, I think, personally, that makes more sense," Lavey said.

"Let's fix the building that we have, let's get our seniors in there, and then maybe explore the youth center at a later time. Or if we can get grant funding to cover that - I know the city applied for a $10 million grant last year, and sadly we were denied that, that would have been perfect. That's my personal feeling on that.

"Taking more money out to build something and putting it more on top of people, I think the happy medium is a phase-in program."

Both Tylec and Lavey are asking residents to get out and make their voices heard on this proposal this Election Day.